Leviticus about gays
The Book of Leviticus (/ ləˈvɪtɪkəs /, from Ancient Greek: Λευιτικόν, Leuïtikón; Biblical Hebrew: וַיִּקְרָא, Wayyīqrāʾ, 'And He called'; Latin: Liber Leviticus) is the third book of the Torah (the Pentateuch) and of the Old Testament, also known as the Third Book of Moses. [1]. 1 The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting.
He said, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When anyone among you brings an offering to the Lord, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock. 3 “‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. Leviticus Chapter 1 Bible Options | + Text Size — 1 And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.
Leviticus is about holiness (being set apart, separate)—both God’s holiness and the holiness He expects of His people. Whereas Exodus displays God’s holiness on a cosmic scale (sending plagues on Egypt, parting the Red Sea, etc.), Leviticus shows us the holiness of God in fine detail. Leviticus is a manual of regulations enabling the holy King to set up his earthly throne among the people of his kingdom.
It explains how they are to be his holy people and to worship him in a holy manner. The dominant view of western Christianity forbids same-sex relations. This verse is one of the clobber passages that people cite from the Bible to condemn homosexuality. This essay first looks at the various ways the verse is translated into the English Bible and then explores some of the strategies used to create an affirming interpretation of what this passage means for the LGBTQ community.
More specifically, it presents the interpretation of K. Renato Lings in which Lev. While Lev. So did this term exist in ancient Israel? Charles D. Myers, Jr. The ancient Near East tradition included pederasty and relations between an older man and a boy, which was the primary form of homosexual sex at the time. Bringing no answers from the history of ancient Israel, we must turn to the text itself.
leviticus 19:28
No matter how we read the Hebrew Bible, we must remember that we are not reading it in the original Hebrew language. Every Bible we read is translated from the original. Translations of Lev. As it is apparent, there is something happening in the various translations of Lev. In order to understand this verse we must confer with scholars and their commentaries. Milgron finds that the word used for male and female words in the verse features a singular version for the male and a plural word for female.
Lings discovers that the text is not self-explanatoryin contrast to the version of most commentators. The Hebrew text is far more complex than English translators disclose.
He builds on the work of David Stewart and the idea that this passage is really about male on male incest. The singular version of the Hebrew word is used frequently. Furthermore, Lings considers the context in which Lev. Notably, the list of laws from Leviticus 18 is reordered in Leviticus In Leviticus 18 the order of the topics is ambiguous, but in chapter 20 the so-called homosexual law appears within a list referring to incest.
Renato Lings. Leviticus May 11,